


Our Secret Garden

by muuchan



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2018-02-24 04:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2568338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muuchan/pseuds/muuchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto has a secret garden with a secret gardening friend to match with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Secret Garden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tomocchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tomocchi/gifts).



> This was my prompt but I've obviously taken a lot of liberties with it:
> 
> _Makoto has a not-so-secret secret. He's a member - well the only member - of Iwatobi's gardening club._ Most students don't know about the garden in the back of the school, so it was left abandoned before he discovered it. Makoto's gardening skill is only subpar but he'd managed to keep it alive somehow. So imagine his surprise when he started seeing flowers popping up in his garden - flowers that he definitely didn't plant. Every week, a new type of flower blooms and every type has a different color. 

> 
> Thanks to **ystoria** and another friend of mine for helping me with this ~ ♥ Oh and all the people who helped me by reading it while I was working on it :)

Makoto blinked at the sunflowers that seemed to wave at him from their corner of the garden. “Hello, notice us?” they seemed to say as the five – Makoto counted them – stalks towered over pretty much everything else in its plot. Not that Makoto had a lot of plants planted in that plot to begin with. In fact, aside from the pansies he’d plugged there recently, that plot should’ve been empty.

Should’ve been. No matter how many times Makoto blinked and rubbed his eyes, the sunflowers remained, bright and cheerful. He frowned and tried to recall the last time he’d been at the garden (that was less than a week ago) and he was fairly certain they hadn’t been there. In fact, after he’d cleared the newly grown weeds and his own wilted flowers, the plot had been empty .

Makoto had started gardening almost as soon as he’d started University. He hadn’t thought about picking up a new hobby, especially when he was sure University would be very challenging, and gardening was probably one of the last things he expected to start but he ended up here anyway. The first few weeks had been hectic around the campus with clubs aggressively recruiting for their respective clubs. While dodging a few members of the basketball club that were utterly convinced he was perfect for it, Makoto had ended up in an unfamiliar place in the campus… a small underused garden with a tea table set at the center. The University’s gardener had found him then and helped him get back to more familiar parts of the University campus, but the place had stuck in his mind (it looked lonely, he thought) and a few days later Makoto was volunteering into Kintoki University’s unofficial gardening club. (He was, until now, its only member.)

The University’s old gardener had been all too happy to teach him a thing or two about gardening and to give him free reign of the abandoned garden. He had only one request: to plant a lot.

And plant a lot, Makoto had tried. Except the first time he filled a plot, he came back a week later and found the flowers – pansies, because he was told they were one of the easiest things to plant – had wilted.

“You have to remember to water them,” the gardener – Ikinoya-san – had told him the first time it happened. “they’ll die, of course, if you leave them too long without water!”

Makoto remembered to visit once every few days then to water the plants, but the end result was his plants actually being over-watered. It was one thing or another after that and Makoto was beginning to think he had the same luck with gardening as he had with cooking. As in, really bad luck.

As Makoto filled the watering can, he looked back at the sunflowers.

So, maybe, even if he was surprised by them suddenly popping up like they did, he was actually quite happy about them? It was a welcome surprise and one that told Makoto not to give up at that. Sunflowers, he thought, were generally associated with cheerfulness. They certainly cheered Makoto right up.

“I should probably thank Ikinoya-san for them,” Makoto thought out loud as he walked over to his plants. He only stopped when he realized if Ikinoya-san had planted them, wouldn’t he have watered them too? And if he had, Makoto really didn’t want to overwater his plants (like he had before).

He ran to check with Ikinoya-san if he’d watered the plants already then. And when he came back to the garden, it was with the unsurprising knowledge that Ikinoya-san had, in fact, neither planted the Sunflowers nor watered his plants yet.

Makoto wondered who – really – had been responsible for the sunflowers.

(He hoped it wasn’t a ghost…)

 

* * *

 

“So somebody you don’t know planted sunflowers in your garden?” Kisumi asked, leaning forward on the counter to inch closer to Makoto. Kisumi already sat beside Makoto but somehow he felt like closing the distance between them even more. He supposed that was just the way things were with Kisumi.

Haru, who was on the other side of Makoto, eyed Kisumi with narrow eyes. “Makoto. Why is he here?”

“He tagged along,” Sousuke answered blandly before Makoto could but that just seemed to make Haru’s eyes narrow even more.

Why are these two here? Makoto could read plainly on Haru’s face even if his best friend did eventually give up on eyeing Kisumi and Sousuke so warily, focusing on the ramen in front of him instead. With a glower.

“Yamazaki-san and I share a few classes together… so I thought I should invite him some time and Kisumi—“

Suddenly Kisumi’s arms were around Makoto’s shoulders. “It’s been a while since we hung out! And Makoto-kun was nice enough to invite me out tonight… I hope you don’t mind, Haru!”

Makoto was going to say that Kisumi’s University was nearby so he invited him (a while back) to meet up sometime (though he didn’t really anticipate that day to be tonight) but Kisumi’s answer was fine too. And in the end, he supposed Haru would be unhappy with whatever reason there was for Kisumi being here anyway….

Haru didn’t bother to respond and began eating his mackerel ramen instead. Makoto didn’t need to try and decipher Haru’s thoughts from his expression to know he wasn’t too happy with this development.

Of course, Makoto felt kind of bad too, for putting Haru in this situation. But… it wasn’t a bad thing to have Haru meet more friends, right? He can’t be Haru’s only friend, especially with all their other friends so far from them. Rei, Nagisa, and Gou were still in high school, still in Iwatobi, and by train it took about an hour at least to get to their area. And Rin… well, Rin was even farther than their friends at Iwatobi; he was still in Australia right now.

Before he knew it an awkward silence had settled between the four of them. Makoto cleared his throat and decided to try getting a nice conversation going on again. He settled for talking about his garden some more.

“Anyway… I asked Ikinoya-san if he knew who came into the garden but he said he didn’t know…” Makoto’s garden had a low-lying brick walls around it and a small ornamental gate that, he supposed, you could lock if you really wanted to. But there was nothing particularly high value in the garden and not many people knew it existed or cared enough locking it would’ve been really pointless even if the gate could actually stop anyone from entering.

“Who else have you told about your little garden, Makoto?” Kisumi inquired before slurping noodles into his mouth.

Makoto crossed his arms and then sat back. “Well…. All of my friends? … I guess. … but if it was any of my friends, wouldn’t they tell me? I mean… Haru, you would tell me, right?”

Haru shrugged and continued eating his ramen.

“Hmm. It depends on the reason.” Kisumi hummed thoughtfully. “Don’t you think so, Sousuke?”

Sousuke regarded Kisumi evenly before meeting Makoto’s gaze and shrugging too, almost mirroring Haruka’s gesture. “Why would they tell you?”

“O-oh.” Makoto’s shoulders slumped as he thought. Sousuke did pose a good question. “To… So… I don’t worry?”

“Makoto, are you worried someone bad’s hanging around your greenhouse?” Kisumi leaned against Makoto.

“This person isn’t stealing any of the plants.” Sousuke said.

“Yet.” Kisumi added belatedly. “Sousuke, you’re always such a sourpuss.”

“Makoto, your noodles are going to get soggy.” Haru suddenly cut in, leading to Makoto jumping on his seat in (mild) surprise.

“A-ah! I almost forgot about it…” Makoto broke his chopsticks and finally began eating. The noodles, thankfully, hadn’t gotten too soggy yet.

“What’s your opinion on the matter, Haru?” Kisumi asked with a playful grin, leaning on the counter again to peek at Haru.

Makoto saw Haru shrug. I’m not interested in gardening, he could almost hear Haru say. He smiled at that.

“If it makes Makoto happy, why should anything else matter?” Haru answered quietly and Makoto, who had thought his guess of Haru’s thoughts was the end of the matter, turned to him, surprised.

“Nanase’s got a good point,” Sousuke added.

“Wow, it’s a surprise seeing the two of you agree on something,” Kisumi noted.

“But I still… it would be nice to know who planted the sunflowers. They were really nice….” Makoto looked down and wondered if he was blushing. He thought about how badly his gardening had been going lately and the sunflowers were a nice cheer-up gift. He was too embarrassed to say that, though. “I’d have liked to be able to thank them…” he said finally and looked at his friends to see their reactions.

“Mmm,” Kisumi hummed and grinned at Makoto. “If it were me, I’d let you know after hearing that.”

“I’m going home.” Haru was suddenly standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder. When Makoto looked over to him, he saw his friend had finished his bowl .

“Haru?!”

“You can stay here, you haven’t finished eating.” Haru shot Kisumi a look Makoto couldn’t quite read, and then turned away.

“But Haru….” Makoto frowned. He looked at Kisumi and Sousuke then -- he couldn’t really leave them, but he didn’t want Haru to leave so soon.

Haru sighed then and offered a small discreet smile to Makoto.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Makoto. Don’t worry, I’ll remember to lock my door tonight.” _Spend time with your friends, I’m not angry at you._

That – the unsaid message and all – had Makoto smiling back. “Mm. Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, Haru.”

“Aww, Haru’s leaving for real, huh?” Kisumi drawled behind Makoto. “Oh well, more time with Makoto for Sousuke and me.”

When Makoto looked at Haru again – he’d turned to Kisumi before that – he thought he saw a quick flash of irritation there. But it was gone so fast and then Haru was saying goodbye to him again. (Was this really okay?)

When Haru left, Makoto sat back down beside Kisumi.

That was when Sousuke said it, “Maybe your sunflower-planter doesn’t want to be found, Tachibana.”

Makoto perked up, realizing Sousuke had just restarted the previous conversation.

“You think so?”

Sousuke shrugged. “Nanase said it doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy. Maybe that’s what matters to them.”

Kisumi was humming again and he elbowed Sousuke. “Are you sure you’re not his secret planter?”

At that, Sousuke grinned and shrugged. “Who knows?”

And though Makoto felt slightly bad about the way Haru left, he was able to enjoy his time together with Sousuke and Kisumi just fine after that.

(The next morning, he dropped by Haru’s apartment, took a deep breath and turned the knob of Haruka’s front door with trepidation.

He’d remembered to lock it, thankfully, and Makoto sighed happily in relief.)

 

* * *

 

A small army of six-petalled white and yellow flowers had invaded the plot next to the one with sunflowers and pansies by the time he’d come back. The sight of them bright, white, and quite overwhelming was an even bigger surprise than the sunflowers that had come more than a week before.

“I was wondering when you’ll come back, Makoto-kun.” Ikinoya-san was watering the plants when Makoto stepped into the greenhouse and he waved at him before gesturing at the flowers. “Somebody left these for you.”

“That’s a lot….” Makoto breathed. The flowers were almost too much (for Makoto, anyway) and he was sure whoever had planted them must’ve taken a while. From his own experience, planting – even plug plants as he had been doing – took quite while. He paused then; wait, wouldn’t Ikinoya-san have noticed whoever had planted these then? “Ikinoya-san, did you see….?”

The old man shook his head even before he finished asking his question. “Unfortunately, no. “

“Oh. “ Makoto slumped his shoulders and he immediately felt sorry for asking. Of course, Ikinoya-san had other things to tend to than to watch over this garden. “Maybe if I’d come sooner I’d have seen this person…” he sighed again. He hadn’t been to the garden at all for almost a week. Ikinoya-san was, thankfully, there to check things out while he was away, once in a while, but he knew that that was adding unnecessary things to the old gardener’s workload. When he’d started tending to this garden, he promised he’d do it himself…

“I’m sorry, Ikinoya-san… I should’ve been around more often,” Makoto apologized. The old man laughed heartily.

“Don’t worry, I can handle an extra plot to water every now and then just fine!”

Makoto smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Ikinoya-san. I promise as soon as I finish this essay I’m working on, I’ll be coming more often again!” Makoto sighed and looked down sheepishly. “I’m just having a hard time with my English….”

“Take your time, kid. I’d offer to help but ‘m afraid my English is no good too,” Ikinoya-san chuckled. “The University’s got some tutoring kinda thing for that, eh? Can’t you ask them for help?”

“Mmm. I can… but I’ll be fine, I think….” Makoto trailed away. “If… if it gets really bad, I have friends who’re really good at English…. And one of them’s in Australia right now… “ Though, he wondered if it would be fine to ask Rin? He thought for a moment and then shook his head. He should just ask Haru; even Nagisa and Rei were (probably) better at English than he was.

“It won’t hurt to ask.” Ikinoya-san’s words had Makoto’s perking up and blinking at the old man. “Your friends, I meant. “

Makoto wondered if the old man had read the hesitation right off his face then. But he decided it wasn’t important if Ikinoya-san had. He just nodded.

“Mm. But I’ll be fine… I think. I hope…”

“If that’s what you think…”

That was what Makoto thought until he found himself slumped at his desk later that evening, staring helplessly at the book he was supposed to write an essay on. He was so sure he could do this but trying to get a concrete idea across was tougher than it seemed, especially, in English. He wasn’t particularly bad at writing essays—he could write an essay for (Japanese) Literature just fine, but all the tenses and adjectives and all those English-y stuff on top of the analysis part just made things tougher. If he could (at least) get help on the technical English stuff, he’d be fine…

Haru was a no-go, though. Makoto hadn’t been able to reach him at all in the day. He suspected Haru had probably left his phone at home or brought it with him but forgot to charge it. There was no one answering his home phone, either, so – Makoto thought – he might be out with his parents. Knowing that, Makoto couldn’t bring himself to keep trying to reach him. So he stopped. It was fine, anyway, he had some time to finish his essay and losing a day because of his own inability to advance on his own wasn’t that big of a loss.

He hoped, anyway.

Makoto bit his lip – he really couldn’t afford for his grades to go down. Gingerly, he reached for his phone and began composing a message.

He looked at the time – 8:24 pm – before taking a deep breath and pressing send.

Less than a minute later, his cellphone buzzed. Rin had replied.

[ _Yeah. What’s up?_ ]

Makoto sat up, thankful for Rin’s speedy response (and the fact that he had responded), and began typing his own : [ _I was wondering if I can ask a favor from you……….. I mean, if you’re free._ ]

He stared at his response – wondering if it was lame? – before sighing and pressing send. Ikinoya-san’s words earlier that day rang in his mind—“It won’t hurt to ask.” Makoto could never get used to that – asking people for help – because he always felt like if he needed to ask, he wasn’t trying hard enough.

(He knew that wasn’t so – Haru reminded him enough – but he still couldn’t help but think that sometimes. It was, at this point he supposed, just his nature to think that way.)

When Rin didn’t respond as speedily as he head earlier, Makoto began to think he’d texted Rin too late. Australia was an hour ahead of Japan, after all. Maybe that was too late for Rin? Maybe he had early practice and had to sleep early? He began to type up an apology for texting so late but thought better of sending it. He could just leave it be and let Rin find his message in the morning; what if Rin hadn’t switched his phone to silent and woke him up? He sighed and decided to just give up on messaging Rin for the night. Just as he was deleting his message, though, Rin’s response came. He almost jumped from his seat when it did.

[ _Yeah, I’m free. Sorry for the late reply. What’s the favor?_ ]

Makoto decided that - maybe - it was a bit too late for Rin to be up and helping Makoto with his essay.

[ _Um. I’ll just ask another time… it’s late there…. Right?_ ] He hit send and then waited.

[ _It’s fine. Actually… I’m in Japan right now._ ]

Makoto gripped at his phone. He hadn’t expected that at all. As he bit his lower lip, he typed: [ _Is something wrong, Rin? D:_ ]

Was it okay to ask that? Makoto thought right after he sent it. What if something serious had happened? Should he really be poking his head into private matters like this? But at the same time, he was concerned. He wanted to help Rin (if Rin would let him) if there was something wrong.

After putting Makoto in suspense for about a minute, Rin finally responded. [ _Nah. It’s nothing. Just swim-related stuff. Anyway, what’s the favor? If you keep on holding back I might actually just sleep on you._ ]

That was good, Rin was fine. Makoto let out a sigh of relief and smiled. [ _I’m glad everything’s fine, Rin :)_ ] He texted before looking over at his notes and his laptop. Now onto his little problem. He took a deep breath and then began composing: [ _Um. I need help… with my essay. I mean, it’s… probably too much to ask you to read everything… but If you’re okay with it can I run my plan with you or… um. I just really need help. I don’t know what to do D,:_ ]

This time, Makoto pressed send before he could regret his little cry for help. And then promptly slumped into his desk in embarrassment.

[ _lol. Makoto, is this an English essay?_ ]

The small _lol_ had Makoto smiling when he read the message. “Yes,” he replied out loud even as he typed his response and pressed send.

[ _I’ll help you. Heck, I’ll even read it for you. When’s it due?_ ]

[ _Three days from now! I have most of it done but… I don’t know if it’s making much sense…._ ]

[ _Send me your stuff on email! And geez, don’t panic. You’ve got Haru with you, right?_ ]

Rin had a point, of course, but still… [ I can’t always run to Haru for help. Besides, he’s busy right now…. :( ]

[ _So, what, I’m just your second option? ;)_ ]

[ _!!!!_ ]

[ _What?_ ]

[ _:D You used an emoticon, Rin!_ ]

[ _Well. Yeah. I can so use them. Am I not allowed?_ ]

[ _You just use them so rarely… :)_ ]

[ _Now you make me *not* wanna use them. Thanks a lot, Makoto._ ]

[ _I’m sorry! : <_ ]

There was no quick response from Rin after that. Makoto wondered if he’d somehow finally annoyed Rin. [ _Rin?_ ]

[ _You better be sorry. ;)_ ] Rin finally responded and Makoto was somewhat sure Rin purposely delayed his response to make him worry (a little) he still sighed in relief. (Not that Makoto could be annoyed by a small gesture like that.) It was followed by another quick response before Makoto could compose a message back. [ _How’s your plants anyway? You started gardening, right?_ ] At first, he paused at the response, but then he remembered mentioning finding the garden to Rin way back in April.

He put his laptop out of sleep mode before answering that. His conversation with Rin was definitely going farther from the topic of his English essay with that one message and Makoto didn’t want to forget the fact that Rin had told him to email his stuff to him. [ _My last batch died... I think I watered them too much Nagisa says I should just think the flowers are like Haru! They’ll die without water! I just hope they don’t need a pool worth’s water to live…….. 6(^^;)_ ]

[ _Mackerel might make a good natural fertilizer... your garden might not appreciate smelling like rotting fish tho…_ ]

[ _I think I might get in trouble with Haru first for wasting his precious mackerel…… He’d say just give it to him instead! (o_o)_ ]

[ _Sounds like him._ ]

[ _Someone planted flowers in my garden while I wasn’t looking too :)_ ] Makoto pressed send and then realized Rin probably wanted to know which ones. [ _Last week it was these nice sunflowers! It was such a big surprise! And this week it’s these……. Ikinoya-san tells me they’re daffodils? But there’s so many of them….. It’s nice! :D But I hope they didn’t spend so much…. u_u._ ]

[ _That means you just have to take care of them. :)_ ]

[ _I’ll do my best, Rin! ………… I wonder who it is? I think Ikinoya-san knows but… he’s keeping it a secret._ ]

[ _It could be him too._ ]

[ _You think so, Rin?_ ]

[ _I dunno. But why do you want to know, anyway?_ ]

_Why do I want to know?_ Makoto wondered as he read the Rin’s message. [ _It just… would be nice. Maybe I can thank them… and we can garden together! It might be nice to…. Meet a new friend?_ ]

Rin didn’t respond so soon again but that gave Makoto enough time to make a proper email with his essay materials attached. Just as he was composing an email, Rin responded.

[ _Maybe you’ll meet this person eventually. Who knows? Just do your thing for now and don’t worry._ ]

Makoto smiled at that response. Rin was right; it’s not like he’s ‘known’ this mystery flower-planter long. Two weeks wasn’t long at all. Maybe he’d just missed them? It’d be nice to know too why they chose to plant flowers in his garden as a surprise (couldn’t they have just walked in while he was around and introduced themselves?) but he liked Rin’s approach. He won’t worry. He would just be (super) thankful for the encouraging gifts.

When he’d sent the email with his attachments, he texted Rin back. [ _Thanks, Rin. You’re right :D I’ll just plant some more flowers so the sunflowers and daffodils won’t be lonely…. I emailed my stuff, btw…. And um… Thanks again._ ]

[ _Just one thanks is enough, Makoto. Anyway, I better head to bed. Good luck on your essay and flowers._ ]

[ _Thanks…. Again. Good night, Rin…. Good luck too! :)_ ]

 

* * *

 

He’d gotten a good grade on his essay which was no surprise considering Rin patiently critiqued his work through Skype and email. Rin helped him with other things too – not just his essay – and by the time he was done with his essay, he (and Rin) was quite confident the next one won’t be so bad. It was like he levelled up his English skill just by getting tutored by Rin.

So, when he returned to his garden, he did so without schoolwork looming at the back of his mind. He even picked up a few more plug plants to add to his growing collection.

Ikinoya-san wasn’t around this time but there was, definitely, a new addition to his garden; a small patch of purple flowers were now growing in a corner.

Makoto was surprised- but at the same time he wasn’t. A small part of him had wondered while he was away if any new plants would be coming from his secret gardener any time soon and he was admittedly really relieved to see there was more. His secret gardener was still planting.

“Hello to you too,” Makoto greeted the flowers with a bright smile before beginning his work around the garden.

 

* * *

 

“You look happy,” Sousuke noted while they sat together during one of the lectures they shared.

Makoto stopped writing and smiled. “Is it showing? I mean… is it that obvious?”

Sousuke snorted and thumbed towards the row beneath them. “Yeah, the girls on the second row are beginning to think you’ve gotten yourself a girlfriend.”

“W-what…?”

“Just kidding. But that’s how it looks to me.” Sousuke kept his eyes to the front when he asked, “Did you get new flowers from your admirer?”

“A-admirer?” Makoto was blushing instantly.

“Okay, fine. Secret gardener. Is that better, Tachibana?”

It really wasn’t but Makoto wasn’t going to argue, especially when they were in class like this. “Y-yes,” Makoto said quietly. “These cute purple ones….. “ he tried to describe what it looked like with hand gestures but then realized that Sousuke probably wasn’t interested in that. “It was really nice and Ikinoya-san said maybe I should surround it with small white flowers to make it stand out more…. Or get another one?”

“Mmm,” Sousuke nodded with clear disinterest. Makoto took that as his signal to go back to paying attention to the lecture. He began to idly write notes again. Though they were certainly a lot closer now (sort of), Makoto still found it hard to deal with Sousuke sometimes. Sousuke often had this expression on him often that reminded him of Haru a lot (how he looked half the time) but despite the similarity Makoto couldn’t really even begin to read Sousuke. (He wondered if Rin could? They were a lot closer, after all.)

“You should try and get a message across,” Sousuke said suddenly just as Makoto was sure their conversation had ended. He’d jumped on his seat at the suddenness of it and when he turned to Sousuke, he found him tearing a long section of paper from his notebook and handing it to Makoto. “Write something and tie it on a branch you know this person will notice.”

It took a few seconds for Makoto to realize just what exactly Sousuke had proposed. (Why hadn’t he thought of that earlier?) But when he did, he leapt and gave Sousuke a big hug… which earned him a few gasps from the girls on the second row (and other people really).

When Makoto pulled away, Sousuke slapped his hand on his face and sighed long-sufferingly.

 

* * *

 

On one of the purple flowers’ shoots, Makoto wrapped a piece of paper. “Thanks for the flowers! They made me really happy! I’ll take good care of them! ” his message said and Makoto had drawn a big smiley face at the end of it for additional effect.

The following week there was clump of pink flowers waiting for him and big piece of paper sticking out of it. It contained printed-out care instructions for all the flowers the secret gardener had brought to the garden so far and a short message:

“You’re welcome.”

 

* * *

 

During the next few weeks, Makoto’s small garden began filling out with flowers of various colors as he (and his secret gardening partner) added to it every week. There were no additional clues as to who his gardening friend was but whoever it was kept up with the messages he sent through their plants. The messages were short, really short (one week it was just a one-liner), but Makoto was glad he responded at all.

“Mako-chan, you should lie in wait in one of the bushes … and then bam! When this person comes jump at them and never let them go!” Nagisa suggested after Makoto finished telling them about the new developments in his garden.

It was Friday night and they had decided to hang out at Haru’s apartment. Or, to be more accurate, Nagisa had decided he wanted to check out Haruka’s little mansion and dragged Rei all the way to Tokyo to satisfy his curiosity. Haru couldn’t really refuse, especially when Nagisa put on the dramatics and had a little script about how long the trip to Tokyo was and how Haru absolutely can’t refuse and leave them out in the cold now.

“Nagisa-kun, that’s just going to scare them…. “ Rei sighed. “Makoto-senpai doesn’t want to scare away his friend!”

Makoto nodded as he brought the food Haru had prepared for them – mackerel onigiri and grilled mackerel –to the table and sat down beside them. “Mmm. And I think I’m just happy knowing someone out there’s helping me…. They’ll reveal themselves once they’re ready.”

“What if it’s a girl? A really cute older woman who’s too shy to tell Mako-chan how cute he is. Oh, she could be a teacher too!” Nagisa suggested eagerly before grabbing a huge helping of the food set before him. “Thanks for the food!”

“That’s… some progression,” Makoto laughed nervously. He didn’t know how to feel about Nagisa’s suggestion.

“Or it could be someone who appreciates beauty… and since Makoto-senpai’s bringing the beauty back to an older garden he or she has decided to help!” Rei put in.

“Haru-chan, mwhhat do you think?” Nagisa asked, mouth full of food, before swallowing hard. “It’s Mako-chan’s chastity in the line here! So what do you think?”

Haru, who came from the kitchen and removed his apron before sitting down beside Makoto, looked at his friend. “As long as he’s happy…. It’s fine.”

“Oho! Mako-chan, you have Haru-chan’s blessing now!”

“Nagisa…” Makoto sighed. This was going nowhere and he didn’t really want to spend the rest of the night being the subject of Nagisa’s teasing. “Um, Haru. How’s your training going?” Makoto said, trying to change the subject.

“It was fine.”

“Eh, that’s a boring answer. We want details!”

Haru sighed and then looked at Makoto, who smiled at him and decided to answer for him. With what he could, anyway. With his and Haru’s busy schedules, they didn’t get to spend as much time together as they used to. (Granted they spent almost all their time together before, so maybe their time together now was more on normal levels?)

“Haru’s improved a lot. I heard he shaved an additional second off his 200m. He’s swimming butterfly now too.” Makoto explained and then turned to Haru. The look Haru had on his face was one that said he was (mostly) fine with what he said. He didn’t exactly like him mentioning the butterfly, though.

“Ah. ” _Yes._ “Rin insisted……”

“Eh, speaking of Rin-chan! He’s in Japan now, right? Or still is…. “ Nagisa hummed. “Haru-chan, Mako-chan, do you know if he’s still in Japan?”

Makoto wondered too. Last time he asked Sousuke if Rin was still around, the brunet had said yes… but that was at least two weeks ago….

“He’s here,” Haru answered Makoto’s wonderings and all of them turned to him. “He helped me with my butterfly,” he muttered then. Makoto wondered if Haru was embarrassed about having to be taught by Rin? But that wasn’t Haru’s fault, though. It’s not like he’d swum any other stroke since they started swimming…. There was that question of how, when and where Rin had taught Haru (and he sort of wanted to ask if he knew for what reason Rin was in the country) but Makoto didn't really want to push Haru. And anyway, the topic right now wasn't _Rin_ , it was all about Haru's swimming....

“Bah. But he’s not saying hi to any of us….” Nagisa mumbled, pouting as he planted his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands.

“Maybe he’s busy…? I’m sure if he was free, he’d have come to see us.” Makoto offered.

“Yeah, I guess!” Nagisa managed to sound cheerful and skeptical at the same time. Makoto couldn’t blame him but he hoped Rin would meet up with them before he returned to Australia again.

“Ah! I wish I could’ve seen Haruka-senpai’s butterfly…. It must be wonderful!” Rei cried out suddenly and Makoto was somewhat grateful for the change of topic.

Makoto grinned. “Maybe we can watch him tomorrow,” he looked at Haru expectantly. Please? “I haven’t seen him swim it either. It’ll be a first for all of us.”

(Haru didn’t really have the means to fight Nagisa when Nagisa had set it in his mind on something. And Makoto? Makoto liked Nagisa’s idea.)

 

* * *

 

Makoto didn’t expect to find Rin at Tamatori University’s sports center, standing by the pool and stretching. And, from the look Rin had on his face, he hadn’t expected to see them either. Makoto supposed it made sense though; somehow, he could just see Rin chasing Haru wherever he went and Tamatori University was no different.

“Makoto… Nagisa…. Rei,” Rin said slowly before turning to Haru and giving him a look.

“Rin-chan! You’re here! ” Nagisa exclaimed, pointing at Rin who ‘tched’ and sighed. “We were just talking about you last night!”

When his initial surprise wore off, Makoto spoke for Haru. “We really didn’t give him a choice. We wanted to see Haru’s butterfly, Rin,” he reasoned in his usual gentle tone. He gave Rin an apologetic look.

Rin responded by looking off to his side – obviously avoiding his gaze- and sighing. When Rin did finally look back at Makoto, it was with a smile that Makoto couldn’t help but think looked practiced. (He didn’t really understand why, but the second time he looked at Makoto felt different too. He wondered what that was about. Or was he just imagining things again?)

“I guess it’s not really Haru’s fault,” Rin walked off to where Haru was standing and gave him a playful slap on the back. “So how about we show these guys a butterfly battle?”

Rin won, naturally, having practiced butterfly far more than Haru ever did but Haru was close. And getting better, so Rin told Makoto later.

“I forgot to tell you I was here…. Sorry about that,” Rin muttered beside Makoto as they watched Nagisa and Rei swim. Unlike the two, Makoto hadn’t brought his swimsuit and had declined the club captain’s – Mikoshiba – offer to lend him one. That left him standing like this, watching his friends.

“It didn’t really come up in our conversations and I never asked,” Makoto assured him. “It’s nothing, Rin.”

“I still feel like a bit of a jerk.”

Makoto shook his head. “You really shouldn’t, Rin. You’ve been busy, right? With your swimming stuff that’s why you didn’t really know when you could visit anywhere….” But, thinking a little more deeply about Haru’s admission last night, Rin must’ve been to Haru’s university more than once. Makoto wasn’t sure what he thought about that. He didn’t really think Haru had meant to hide it until last night – in general, Haru found it difficult to talk about day-to-day stuff – but somehow he wondered if Rin should’ve told him? Them?

(Or maybe Makoto’s old jealousy of Rin and Haru’s swimming rivalry was rearing up again?)

He smiled reassuringly at Rin but the redhead seemed to purposely avoid his gaze. And then Rin was joining Rei and Nagisa in the pool and proposing another butterfly battle, this time with Haru, Nagisa and Rei against him. As he ran off to jump back into the pool, Makoto couldn’t help but wonder if Rin really was avoiding him.

Later that afternoon, Rin admitted that he finally had a date for his return to Australia. It was next weekend.

“I’ll make time for us to hang out before that,” Rin told them. “I was meaning to…”

Rin looked up and for a second, his eyes met Makoto’s. And then he was looking away again.

Rin was definitely avoiding him.

 

* * *

 

There were no new flowers for him that week. Makoto had been visiting once every few days –he’d gotten into a sort of routine these past few weeks – and each time he’d hoped there would be a new flower for him from his secret gardening friend only to come to disappointment. He was happy to see his plants doing well, of course, but he wondered why there was none that week. (And if that meant that was the end of it. He hoped not.)

He tried to reason to himself that it was just one week and there could be another one next week, but somehow he couldn’t help but – maybe not worry – feel unhappy about it.

It must have shown on his face (again) because Sousuke made a note of it when they sat together.

“Something happen?”

“Ah? Huh? O-oh,” Makoto sheepishly turned to Sousuke. “I was just thinking.”

“Hm?”

“My friend didn’t plant anything new this week,” Makoto said softly. He expected Sousuke to voice out the things Makoto only thought of: He was being selfish and expecting free plants, the person was probably busy, they didn’t really have to plant something every week. But the brunet didn’t say anything of the sort.

Instead, Sousuke asked, “If your friend never came back, how’d you feel?”

Makoto was surprised by the question but the answer came to him easily. “I’d feel sad!”

“Because you won’t get anymore new additions to your garden?” Sousuke gave him a scrutinizing look (or it felt like that anyway) and Makoto felt uneasy under those eyes.

“I- maybe because of that… but,” Makoto couldn’t deny Sousuke’s words – and he felt kind of sorry for himself for thinking that – but at the same time…. “I just thought we were starting to become friends…. But maybe I’m just thinking too much… “ He forced a little smile.

“It’s just a week, I’m probably thinking too much…. right?” Makoto finished with a question.

“I guess.” Sousuke muttered before mumbling something to himself.

“Is something…?”

“It’s nothing. Listen, when are you coming back to your garden?”

Makoto blinked. “A-ah?”

“I said when, Tachibana?”

“Oh- uh. On- Wednesday, I think. I try to get once every two days…” Makoto trailed away just as Sousuke got up from his seat. “Yamazaki….san?”

“Get there tonight.” He said simply before beginning to make his way out of their row.

“Wait- where are you going?”

“Home. Just make sure you’re there tonight.”

 

* * *

 

“Haru, I- I think Sousuke might be my gardener friend,” Makoto told Haru over the phone later. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that possibility so he called Haru up to sort out his thoughts.

“Sousuke told me,” Haru answered plainly.

“W-what?” Sousuke told him what? That he was the secret gardener friend? How and why were Sousuke and Haru speaking to each other anyway?

“Just go.” Haru told him simply before hanging up.

“Haru!”

 

* * *

 

Sousuke was indeed at the garden that night, standing at the entrance hands in his pockets as he waited. “You’re late,” he said gruffly.

“I- I’m sorry.” Sousuke hadn’t exactly specified a time to be at the garden so Makoto, maybe, hadn’t hurried as much as he wanted. He wanted to tell Sousuke that if he’d specified a time, he would’ve arrived earlier (however earlier Sousuke wanted him to be there) but he found himself shyly looking down instead.

He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed, or what, but he didn’t want Sousuke to see that. Especially when he’d spent so much time giving him those wonderful flowers. As he thought of that – of the work Sousuke must’ve put into them for him, to cheer him up – he began to think that maybe… just maybe… it wasn’t so bad that Sousuke was his secret gardening friend?

He looked up and tried to meet Sousuke’s eyes.

“Um. T-thank you. Your flowers really….. “

Sousuke cut him off. “Don’t thank me. I’m not your flower friend.” Makoto heard someone splutter… behind Sousuke? “He is.”

Sousuke stepped away then and Makoto got a better look inside the garden.

“Rin…?” Makoto squinted, blinked, and rubbed his eyes, but the image of Rin standing gingerly a ways behind Sousuke didn’t change. He still didn’t look at Makoto directly but there were other things for Makoto to really wonder about.

Sousuke sighed loudly, reminding Makoto that the brunet was still there.

“This idiot thought he’d cheer you up by giving you surprise flowers. Begged me for a discount at the store…”

Makoto turned to look at Rin – he couldn’t really picture Rin begging so maybe Sousuke was embellishing things? – and then at Sousuke again. “A discount?”

Sousuke sighed again and scratched the back of his head. “My family business… a gardening and flower shop…. And before you say anything about that- _don’t_. Talk to him. I had to drag him here or he’d probably just leave without telling you he’s your secret admirer.”

“Sousuke,” Rin growled and Makoto noticed how Rin’s cheeks turned slightly red. (It was kind of… cute. )

“I’m not- I was just…. I just wanted to help you out. While I was around…. “

“Yeah, just help out. That’s why he used the free time he had when he wasn’t training with Tamatori University’s team getting his hands dirty in your garden.” Sousuke butt in.

Rin glared at Sousuke one more time before taking a deep breath. That’s when Makoto noticed he was holding a potted plant. Its flowers looked like miniature roses. His heart skipped a beat. (He wasn’t really sure why.)

“Makoto,” Rin began before extending the potted plant to Makoto’s direction. “This is my last gift for a while so don’t…. “ he shook his head and gestured to the piece of paper tied to one of its branches. “That’s the instructions for its care…. It’s really more of an indoor plant so you should… keep it in your home. “

Makoto was speechless but he remembered to take the pot from Rin’s hand and nod. “I’ll take care of them.”

“You better,” Rin paused then and he began avoiding Makoto’s eyes again, looking to the ground beside them instead. “I’ll message you… and ask if they’re doing well.”

Makoto half-expected Sousuke to chuckle beside them but when he turned to where Sousuke had been, he realized the brunet had left them a while ago. It was just Rin and him now.

“I’ll update you… about them,” Makoto said quietly, hugging the pot close to himself. “Rin….” He wanted to ask why Rin had decided to do all this to cheer him up. What Sousuke said earlier… that wasn’t it, was it?

Makoto’s heart began thumping in his chest. (And if it was like that?)

He heard Rin take another deep breath. “I like you, Makoto.”

“Rin?!”

“But… I can’t – I mean. I probably shouldn’t…. “ Rin scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t mean to tell you that now.”

“Oh.” Makoto hung his head.

“No! I mean, geez… no, not that—“ Rin hastily added. “I just… I’m not gonna be in the country as much as I’d like. Not anytime soon, anyway. I just…. I just don’t want to make it seem like I’m just saying it….”

By the time Rin trailed away, he was blushing all the more.

The sight made Makoto smile a little. He decided that he really didn’t need any more of Rin’s explanation especially after all that he’d said and done. “Thank you for the flowers, Rin,” Makoto said softly. “I… they made me really happy. Every week I really looked forward to seeing more of them. And… knowing you got my messages.” He took a deep breath. “I… wondered who it was helping me out. And I think… a part of me wondered too if it was because they liked me…. or something like that. When I thought it was Sousuke… I think I was pretty disappointed.”

Rin snorted a little. “What did you think about it being me?”

Makoto looked down at the small roses in his arms and tried to recall what he thought aside from the surprise. He thought about what he felt now. (If this was even really happening.)

“I think… I was glad.”

He smiled up at Rin and added: “I’m glad it was you, Rin. Really.”

 

 


End file.
